From
Super Calo v Pat Tanaka: This is Calo's TV debut. Mike Tenay sits in on commentary for this one, which makes one wonder why they didn't just schedule this bout for the second hour, when Tenay is a regular co-host. Tanaka works a wristlock to start, so Calo tries maneuvering his way out of it, but runs into a savate kick. Calo comes back with a flying bodypress, but Tanaka rolls through, so Calo goes back up with another dive, then sends Tanaka to the outside with a clothesline. Calo dives after him with a somersault suicida, as we cut to the back, where some college age kids are coming into the building, passing out nWo literature. That's fantastic! They really worked in so many great, creative touches with this angle. In the ring, Calo tries flying somersault senton, but Tanaka dodges, and superkicks him. Criss cross sees Tanaka land a jumping palm strike for one, and another criss cross ends in Calo trying a rana, but getting dropped with a sitout powerbomb. Tanaka takes him up for a superplex, but Calo topples him on the way down at 2:29. Too short to really go anywhere, and it was basically just a collection of random spots for two and a half minutes. Worked as an introduction to Calo, though. * ¼
Backstage, Rick Steiner is ready for Lex Luger! And a mental health assessment! When we last saw Luger, he had assaulted a police officer and stolen his cruiser, so perhaps he's got bigger things on his plate than Rick Steiner right now
In another paid nWo spot, they unveil the official nWo t-shirt, and note that all proceeds will go to the Ric Flair retirement fund. Well, it's a good cause. Scott Hall and Kevin Nash continue to be effortlessly cool, but Giant kind of looks like he's trying too hard, even in this quickie spot. These shirts couldn't have come a moment too soon, as evidenced by when we cut back to the arena, the camera pans over a bunch of fans with homemade nWo shirts
Yesterday on WCW Pro, we finally saw the debut of Glacier, who practiced his kata ahead of his upcoming orange belt test
The Nasty Boys v The Amazing French Canadians: This is the artists formerly known as the Quebecers' debut. The Nasties attack before the bell, and dump Carl Ouellet to the outside so they can work on Jacques Rougeau, as we spot some of those kids passing out nWo propaganda in the stands. Jacques attacks Jerry Sags with a flagpole to take control, and the French Canadians double team, as Larry Zbyszko leaves his post to go take the flyers away from one of the nWo kids before they can pass out any more of them. Meanwhile, the Canadians keep working Sags over with tandem moves, and we get a funny spot where Sags is clearly supposed to move out of the way of the Eiffel tower spot, but doesn't. The Canadians respond by hitting the move a second time, so Brian Knobbs whacks Carl with the flagpole, and Sags steals the pin at 3:27. What a weird way to debut a new team. Not only did they hit their finisher twice without it resulting in a win, and not only did they job, but the announcers completely ignored the match to talk about the nWo propaganda guys the whole time. Just weird as fuck. Afterwards, Gene Okerlund comes in to talk with the winners, and proves just how much WCW cares about this new team by noting that the Nasties pulled out a tough win over the 'Rougeau Brothers.' Ouch. ¼*
Submission Match: Scott Norton v Sgt. Craig Pittman: Pittman with a hiptoss early on, and a pair of headbutts to the midsection briefly take Scott off of his feet, before Norton goes to the eyes to save himself. Well, you knew there was no chance of him actually selling anything, right? They spill to the outside, where Pittman takes a trip into the post, and Scott stomps on the shoulder before taking it back in with a fujiwara armbar. That draws Ice Train out, and he throws a towel in on Pittman's behalf at 2:57. How does that count? He's not even in Pittman's corner! Train then gets into a stare down with Norton, but Pittman is freaking out about him throwing in the towel, and he's damn right! He's a big boy! If he wanted to submit, he would have submitted. Weird match, weirder finish. DUD
Backstage, Lex Luger is hanging out with Ric Flair and Arn Anderson, but Sting is nowhere to be found, and Flair takes issue with that, because the Horsemen gave these guys two spots that belonged to their own. This leads to Luger and Chris Benoit getting into a contest to see who can rub his wrist the most vigorously
Review of the Diamond
Juventud Guerrera v Joe Gomez: Criss cross right away, won by Gomez with a shoulderblock. Another won goes Guerrera's way with a dropkick, and he uses a springboard somersault senton to send Joe to the outside. That looked terrible, with Gomez just standing there like an idiot while Guerrera went to the apron and set up the move. Juvi with a baseball slide, so Joe stalls, and Guerrera tries bringing him in from the apron with a rana for two. I say 'tries' because the move didn't even come close to connecting. Gomez sold it anyway, though. Guerrera takes him up for a rana off the top, but Gomez 'blocks' (he didn't even move in Guerrera's direction, yet Juvi dove off the ropes like he'd been shoved), and Joe dives, but Guerrera is ready with a dropkick. Guerrera with a springboard corkscrew splash to finish at 2:12 - almost tripping off the ropes as he executes it. Wow, this was embarrassingly bad. I kind of wish it went on for a few more minutes just so it could become not only terrible, but epically terrible. It nearly got there even as it was! -**
Gene brings Nick Patrick out to talk about his controversial DQ call in the tag match last week, but Patrick thinks Luger's lucky it was only a DQ, because he really should have gotten suspended for knocking into an official like that. And he thinks everyone should stop putting his every move under the microscope, because while they were wasting time on him, Giant slipped right by them. This angle continues to be great, with realistic motivations, and Patrick doing a great job of walking the line, and explaining his actions
The nWo are out in the parking lot, putting their flyers on cars. I wouldn't hire these guys to do my marketing, though. First of all, try to pick the more expensive cars. Secondly, stick to one flyer per vehicle. Hall's wasting three or four per, and Giant just keeps papering the same car over and over! Not only is that a waste of money, but it's not environmentally friendly either, assholes! And how are we supposed to take Hogan seriously as the big boss when he's out there doing menial labor (in the rain, no less), instead of having his henchmen do it for him?
Lex Luger v Rick Steiner: Steiner slaps hands with nearly every single person on the guardrail, but only on one side of the aisle. Spread it around, dick. Handshake to start, and they feel each other out from there. Rick dominates on the mat, but runs into an elbow while trying a charge in the corner. That allows Luger to try a clothesline, but Steiner ducks, and throws one of his own for two. Criss cross allows Luger a running forearm smash for two, but another criss cross goes Steiner's way with a powerslam. He adds an elbowdrop for two, so Lex tries slugging, but Rick is ready with a release overhead suplex for two. German suplex, but Lex holds the ropes for dear life to block, so Rick kicks him instead. Steinerline gets two, but a corner whip backfires when Luger rebounds out with a lariat! Lex follows up with a powerslam, and he calls for the Torture Rack, but here comes Nick Patrick! He frantically motions to Luger that there's some kind of emergency backstage, and Lex takes off running - losing the match by countout at 6:58. We then cut out to the parking lot, where Ted DiBiase is standing in the rainstorm, talking to someone in a black limousine about trust. It's assumed to be Sting, and when Lex arrives on the scene, Sting pops out, and the nWo beat Luger down, leaving him laying in a puddle! That's fantastic! WCW was always a lot better at doing these outdoor angles. The weather really cooperated too, as it wouldn't have been quite the same without the downpour. The angle bit of this aired against the opening minutes of RAW, and I'd definitely be glued to Nitro if I was flipping back-and-forth. ¾*
We take a look back at everything nWo from last week, culminating in Giant's heel turn to close the show. This extended recap aired opposite the Faarooq/Vega match over on RAW, so call it a push. I mean, the WCW stuff was much better, but we'd already seen it, so it's really hard to give it an edge over a live match. Or, well, 'live,' I suppose. You know what I mean
Another paid nWo spot, hyping their t-shirt
Lex Luger is still outside, where he's now been joined by other WCW wrestlers, combing the parking lot looking for the nWo. Despite them driving off in their car earlier. Even the announcers are, like, 'um, they're gone, idiots.' Rick Steiner walking around with an umbrella in full wrestling gear is a funny image, for whatever reason. Also impressive how fired up the Amazing French Canadians are to go after the nWo. They've been here, what, an hour, and already they're ready to die for WCW? This aired against the conclusion of the Faarooq/Vega match, and I'll give WCW the edge
WCW Cruiserweight Title Match: Rey Mysterio Jr v Billy Kidman: They do a reversal sequence to start, ending in Rey sending them both over the top with a rana. Outside, Rey reverses a whip into the rail, and dives off the apron with a headscissors takedown on the floor. He tries a springboard dive on the way back in, but Kidman is ready with a dropkick, and he slams the champion to set up a flying splash for two. Whip into the ropes, but Rey flips over the top onto the apron, and dives back with a springboard somersault senton at 1:38. Blink and you'll miss it. This was opposite WWF wrestlers recording get well greetings for Ahmed Johnson, and an ad for Mind Games. Advantage WCW. * ¼
The Faces of Fear v The Public Enemy: The announcers apologize for not giving the last match enough attention because they're distracted by the Sting situation... and then spend the whole time talking about the Sting situation as this one gets going. The Faces of Fear attack during the pat down, and it spills to the outside right away, where Meng gets whipped into the rail by Johnny Grunge, as Barbarian gets choked out by Rocco Rock. Rock tries a springboard moonsault press, and it looks like Barbarian is supposed to catch him in a slam, but that doesn't work out too well. Rock eventually rolls him up for two instead, as the Leprechaun shows up to chase Jimmy Hart around ringside for a bit. How is he still a thing? That goes nowhere, and everyone kind of ignores it anyway. Tags to Meng and Grunge, and WCW cares so much about this match that they actually cut backstage for an interview with Luger and the Horsemen instead. Woowww. I like how Luger is so distraught that he hasn't even found the time to put on a shirt yet. It's actually a really good interview too, with everyone acting adequately shocked to get the turn over. Poor Flair looks completely disoriented, which is pretty funny considering how many times he did the same thing to Sting over the years. Back to the match, as Barbarian hurls Rock across the ring with a superplex, and Meng piledrives him for two. Grunge tries to run in for the save, but Meng quickly dispatches him, and the Faces go back to work. Barbarian hits boot on a charge, but Rock fails to tag in time, and Rock gets pounded in the corner again. Stereo headbutts get two, but Meng misses his own charge, and there's the tag. Grunge comes in hot, but stupidly tries ramming their heads together, and that ends badly. Cool finish, as Barbarian gets Rock on a table in the aisle, and he does a crazy flying headbutt after him, but Rocco moves at the last second, and Barbarian goes through it. That was awesome! The Enemy bring another table in for Meng, with Rock putting him through it via flying moonsault, but Meng fucking shrugs it off! Both he and Barbarian start no-selling and destroying, and Johnny gets caught in the Tongan Death Grip at 10:28. Afterwards, Gene comes out to talk to the entire Dungeon of Doom, and what a motley crew these guys are. Konnan looks like he just stepped out of Breaking Bad, Kevin Sullivan looks like he's auditioning for a 1980s music video, and there's one random dude I don't even recognize that just stands there and flexes the whole time. This aired opposite a Shawn Michaels interview, Stalker/Hopper, and clips from RAW Championship Friday over on the WWF side, and I have to give WCW the edge here. I was paying about as much attention to the match as WCW was, but it looked to be about ¾*
Another paid nWo promo spot, this one establishing that DiBiase is in fact the big boss, and Hall also showing us the '4 life' hand gesture for the first time. This aired opposite the Crush/Floyd match on RAW, and again it's all WCW here
Fall Brawl ad
Randy Savage v John Tenta: Wait, so the Bubba feud has long ended, but Tenta is STILL walking around with half his head shaved?! Who did he piss off?! Savage has on one of his better WCW era outfits on tonight, and he charges in, but Tenta is ready with boots. He corners Macho for some abuse, and he looks just horrible, the poor guy. Between the hairstyle and that ill-advised mustache, it's no wonder the WWF put him under a mask when he jumped back. Savage tries a bodyslam, but gets toppled, and Tenta knocks him to the outside with a dropkick. He follows, so Macho 'hits' him with a chair, and rolls him back in for a flying axehandle. Flying Elbowdrop hits, but Macho doesn't cover, instead going up again. He lands a second one, but here's Teddy Long, and he wants Savage's help, because apparently the nWo is back! Macho takes off running, and loses by countout at 3:02. Backstage, the nWo is indeed back, and Savage (backed up by the Horsemen, and other WCW guys) chase them into their limo, which drives off. Another limo then pulls up, but it's empty, so the guys decide to spray-paint it. It's still raining out though, so that doesn't really go very far. And, anyway, it's likely a rental anyway, so what are they really going for there? This aired opposite the Undertaker/Sincere main event on RAW, which was a slightly better match, but didn't have the intrigue of the nWo angle that Nitro did. DUD
The Horsemen come out to the announce position to do the hard sell for Fall Brawl, and the rage is real! Great stuff, I'm really looking forward to redoing Fall Brawl now
We close with another look at Sting's turn out in the rain earlier
BUExperience: This one probably sucked for the live crowd, but it made for one hell of a TV show! It’s interesting that Nitro is becoming more like the Vince Russo style shows every week now, with the matches as just quickie background to the angles in the foreground. That’s not my favorite presentation style, but they’ve got a really hot angle that they’re doing a good job of nurturing every week, so it works for now. The show constantly feels both crucial and energetic. I tend to be very forgiving of the WWF during this period (mostly due to nostalgia), but the last couple have been brutal, and Nitro is blowing them out of the water.
Monday
Night Wars Rating Chart
9/9/96
|
||
Show
|
RAW
|
Nitro
|
Rating
|
2.4
|
3.7
|
Total Wins
|
17
|
28
|
Win Streak
|
11
|
|
Better Show (as of 9/9)
|
11
|
33
|
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.